Chapter 2:
Finding Family


MAX POV

Doing sports at Ella's high school was the most painfully infuriating thing I'd done, that didn't involve keeping my mouth shut to 'respect authority'. And that includes my last mission when I'd taken down three Erasers on gaurd, unseen, none of them managing to land a single claw on me until the fourth mutt, who dodged my sucker punch and threw one back that dislocated my jaw. I was so close to a clean strike of stealthy take downs, but no, one mutt just had to ruin it, and from then on it was a race against time with the racket I'd made being in pain. And still, I'd take doing all of that over doing sports here.

I had to change in one of the toilet cubicles (so there was no feather-fiasco when I took my t-shirt and hoodie off) then I spent over an hour running around a track, painfully slowly, pretending I was out of breath whilst keeping up a brisk human jog. It was like being back at the school, only instead of physical testing, this was a test of mental strength - maintaining this whole 'human' act, and keeping my temper in check while the sports teacher yelled at me to go faster (no matter how out of breath I pretended to be).

By the time I'd gotten changed back into my hoodie, I seemed to have settled into a simmering bitch-fit of 'I told you so's', making a mental note to explain to Ella the many, many differences between movie high school she'd promised and the real life version.

After changing in the toilet cubical again, I left the sports building, making no effort to rush around campus while looking for my next class, and trying to convince myself that it wasn't worth skipping when I was only ten minutes late.

Dr M seemed to have taken the sentiment that I 'sounded just like a song bird' to heart, because she'd signed me up for music, even though I didn't give a damn about learning an instrument. I mean, what was I going to do? Take inspiration from the pied piper and use a flute lure the white coats out!?

The map seemed to be telling me that right building was up ahead, and navigating the corridors for the right room number started giving me goosebumps. The more I walked down the halls of this high school the more it creeped me out, and my gut churned uncomfortably as I turned every corner. It felt like I was getting de javu everywhere I looked, but I couldn't put my finger on what it reminded me of with the dirty tiled walls, red lockers, and bustle of people shouldering their way through to lessons.

When I'd told Ella, she only told me to stop worrying, saying I was probably just falling back on my old sense of paranoia like I did with anything new.

After climbing several flights of stairs I found my classroom. I gritted my teeth, repressing the emmense urge to jump out the nearest window with my promise to Dr M about 'trying to have fun' ringing in my ears. Aiming to at least try and find it boring instead of irritating, I took a deep breath and entered the classroom.

Inside there was only a teacher, sat flicking through some sheet music at a keyboard. I began muttering about being in the wrong room, and almost managed to leave before he asked,

"Max Martinez?" I turned around slowly, managing a grimace,

"Er...yeah. Sorry I'm late - got lost." He waved my statement aside, grinning sheepishly,

"First day, we've all been there. Unfortunately, I've already split everyone into partners...but..." he pulled a sheet of paper towards him, running a finger down a list and grinning up at me, "Nick Walker is without a partner. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you joining in. He's in the third practise room on the left. Okay?"

No. It was not okay. I was not okay. But I still nodded at him politely as I backed out the room, feeling my temper still bubbling under the surface from track class.

Dragging my feet along the corridor, I stopped at the third door, opening it to see Nudge's brother turn around.

Ella had pointed him out to me this morning, but as I recognised the black hair and olive skin, I felt dread pooling in my stomach. Nudge was this state's number one motor mouth, if this was her brother I was in for a real ride.

I knew it, this high school thing really is a mental test.

Nick Walker was sat on a piano stool, sheet music spread on the stand, a slightly confused notch between his eyebrows twisting his otherwise blank expression. I forced what felt like a small smile on my face,

"The teacher told me to come partner up with a Nick Walker?" The boy gave a barely there smile,

"Sure - call me Fang." I closed the door, dropping my bags just inside and clarifying,

"Max."

I stood awkwardly by the door, silence filling the void of space between us.

"So..." Fang said, tapping his knee to play for time, "...do you play any instruments?" I shook my head and Fang frowned thoughtfully, glancing back at the piano keys, "...right."

He paused for another second, then shrugged, "I s'pose you could sing?" I raised my eyebrows doubtfully, feeling sarcasm claw its way past the politeness I'd wedged into my throat,

"...I don't sing." Fang moved over on the piano stool so I could sit down,

"Course you do. Everyone does." I narrowed my eyes, fairly set on not being ordered around,

"Great, but I'm not everyone. Can't you just play and pretend I did something?" His eyebrows dissapeared into his fringe,

"Sure, if you want to fail." I scowled heavily. I thought the dude was Nudge's sister - where was the twenty minute rambling?

Fang glanced from me, to the sheet music, and back again, sounding like he was stabbing out in the dark,

"So...can you read music?" I snorted silently, shaking my head. I could read polish thanks to the school (they'd wanted to find out how well a bird brain picks up language) but music didn't seem to be on their list of necessary mutant academia. Fang blew his cheeks out, spreading the pages out on the stand defiantly,

"Okay then. I'll take you through the tune, you can sing it the second time around."

"Can't you sing?" I complained. Fang shrugged,

"Yeah, but you since can't play an instrument, you've got to do it." He frowned at me, slightly "what were you expecting to do in this class if you can't play an instrument?" I sighed, scowling as I pictured Dr M's delighted face,

"I don't know, my...Mum signed me up for most of this stuff." Fang raised his eyebrows,

"Did you not do any core subjects at school?" I dragged out my mental box of fake life-stories,

"No, I've was homeschool."

"Okay, well have you seen any musicals?" I frowned at him,

"What's a musical?" Fang's eyebrows disappeared into his hair again,

"It's a play with songs. It's the topic of class this semester." Fang gestured to the music on the stand. "I was playing some stuff from Phantom of the Opera. Want to have a go?" I frowned, and Fang took my disintrest in singing to be stage fright, "I can sing along with you if you're nervous?" I snorted,

"I don't get nervous." Fang shrugged and patted the space on the stool next to him. I tried to come up with some other excuse to not sing, but nothing came to mind. Fang looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to take a seat, and after a few seconds I finally caved to human responsiblity.

This day was a disaster as it was, I suppose I didn't really need to add 'failing a class' to the list of why I didn't like attending high school.


Fang played through the song, pointing out how the notes went up or down when you were meant to sing higher or lower, and showing me by singing through the whole song by himself.

It wasn't horrific, I mean it wasn't fun, but with Fang singing too it wasn't a painful experience. It certainly wasn't hard; my bird brain managed to pick up the melody easily, and I grudgingly started to sing along during his third rendition.

Fang seemed to take my weakening protest for enthusiasm, and as we sang through the first verse together, I turned to see his face holding the most expression I'd seen thus far - his lips forming half a smile. Having learnt the tune almost by heart I started focusing on the lyrics, my brow furrowing the more I read.

The character was singing about their world shattering, and every few lines it clouded my head with thoughts of my flock, especially little Ari, and my eyes began watering.

Before I could stop them, a few stupid little tears ran down my cheek, and I tried to catch them under the guide of scratching my nose, attempting to ignore the lyrics I was singing. Unfortunately, Fang seemed to have noticed, and he stopped playing suddenly.

"You alright…?" He asked gently, something close to concern etched on his face. Falling back into autopilot I heard myself laugh,

"Yeah, yeah, fine—" I jumped to my feet as the door opened, the bustle of the hallway filtering into the room and catching me off gaurd. Instinctively I snapped into fight or flight mode, reaching out to grab a music stand on my right and whilring around, ready to knock an Eraser out cold.

But instead of a 300 pound stinking dog in the doorway, I saw a very alarmed music teacher, looking from me, to the music stand, and back again.

"Errr...just wanted to remind you the rooms are sound proofed - you probably didn't hear the lunch bell that went five minutes ago." The teacher backed out and I replaced the music stand, a little embarressed.

Before Fang could mention my behaviour I walked over to my bag, muttering a goodbye and leaving the room. He didn't say a word as the door closed, and I tried to push both him and the image of my flock out my mind, as I ran off to find Ella for lunch.


Ella was waiting for me at my locker. The entire walk to the cafeteria was filled with her jabbering about her crush, Iggy Griffiths. She always talked about him at home, and had asked him out several times. He sounded pretty nice, letting Ella down gently with each refusal, not that it had discouraged either her affection or the gossip she shared with Nudge.

When we reached the lunch hall, I was relieved to hear her change the subject. Ella did me the courtesy of cataloging the cliche lunch tables like that Mean Girl's movie we'd watched last week. Despite the many differences I'd experienced between real life and the movies, from what I could see, with tables of stick thin barbie dolls, or greasy haired nerds, Hollywood had gotten this part right.

After picking up three sandwiches, fruit, and a bag of donuts, Ella and I walked towards a table occupied by the pretty mocha skinned girl Ella had waved to this morning. I had barely sat down on the bench when Nudge sprung into action,

"OMG, you're Max?! Ella's told me so much about you!" As she drew breathe I spared a glance at Ella (as there wasn't much you could say about me without revealing the greatest secret of all time) but Ella barely got in a shrug before Nudge was rambling on, "I'm Nudge Walker, professional fangirl, gadget girl, fashion expert, gossip guru—"

"—And motor mouth." Ella finished, stuffing one of Nudge's sandwiches into her open mouth to shut her up. Nudge took a disgruntled bite out of her sandwich and Ella grinned at her before turning to me,

"...So, good day so far Max?" I glared at her, unwrapping the first of many sandwiches,

"Alright...the movies got a lot of things wrong though..." I turned to Nudge, "I met your brother Fang. After hearing so much about you from Ella, he's...not as chatty as I thought he'd be." Nudge snorted, pouching her food in her cheeks to speak unperturbed,

"Fang never talks - no one ever believes we're related. It's hilarious, though I wish he'd talk more sometimes—" Ella interrupted Nudge,

"—I wish he'd stand up to A-jax, I mean Iggy tries to stop it but—" Nudge cut her off,

"—I know right! I mean Fang's a freaking ninja - he showed me all these martial art moves he learnt off the internet. He could totally take him, but apparently," Nudge's voice lowered in pitch as she imitated Fang, "it's not worth disrupting the balence" She rolled her eyes,

"I mean what the hell is that supposed to mean? Tess, y'know Tess in my English class, she said that loads of girls thinks he's hot, but no one will ask him out cause they don't want to risk getting on Ajax's bad side. I mean, would you feel safe if that guy had a grudge against you? Saying that, Lisa was brave enough to ask him to the movies...Fang turned her down— but that's another thing! I swore he liked her, like he went to chess club just to see her for a while. I mean he said it was cause Mum asked him to go, but I know it wasn't. What would he get out of become a chess champ like Mum? He told me himself he's not interested in the game!" Nudge chewed her food grumpily, and Ella nudged me smugly,

"I bet Max could take A-jax apart, we could make her Fang's body gaurd?" Nudge swallowed her mouthful and grinned at me like all her dreams had come true at once. I couldn't help but smile slightly,

"I'm sure I could figure something out." Nudge clapped her hands with excitement, stopping as she looked over my head,

"Oop…talking of" Nudge nodded at someone behind us, "A-jackass and Ella's hotty are approaching..."

"Hey Ella!" shouted a voice that made me drop the food in my hands. I waited, not daring to look as two boys approached the table, one of which smiled down at Ella, holding a jacket out to her, "you left your coat on the bleachers again."

Under normal circumstances I would've spotted Ella's jacket to be a flirting technique (and teased her senseless for ripping off some girly movie), but looking up into Iggy's familiar face I could only sit, frozen to the spot. His gaze sliding over to me and staring with blue eyes that could most definately see.

"Iggy?" I asked, watching as his gaze slid over and stared at me with blue eyes that could most definately see. I stood up, Iggy walking around to me and muttering,

"—Max—" before I threw my arms around his waist.

Iggy's arms locked tightly around my shoulders in a hug, and I heard him mutter into my hair, "...oh thank god."

"I'm sorry," I murmered, hands digging into his jock jumper, checking for wings and feeling feathers beneath his t-shirt. My voice started shaking, "I'm so, so sorry...I tried to find you, but you were gone and—"

"—Max?" Ella asked from behind me. I wiped my eyes, opening my mouth to explain but Iggy got there first, keeping an arm around my shoulder as he drew back,

"Sorry Ells, I... I haven't seen Max in a while." Ella tilted her head, confused, and I grinned at her,

"I didn't know my friend Iggy and your Iggy were the same person." A look of comprehension dawned on Ella's face as she looked back and forth between us,

"You're that Iggy?" The ginger ninja grinned, opening his mouth to say something but someone behind him got there first.

"Not that I don't love a hallmark moment," A-jax drawled, "but what exactly is going on dude?" I looked up at A-jax, seeing that he was even taller then Iggy and I, bleached blonde hair sticking up as he squinted at the both of us, frowning at Iggy, and glaring at me like I was the gum he'd found on the bottom of his shoes.

Iggy squeezed me tightly, smiling at A-jax,

"Max and I grew up together. My parents dragged me down here from two states over before I could say goodbye - I didn't have any contact details so we haven't heard from each other in, what...?" he looked down at me as if checking, "six months?" I nodded, proud at how naturally the lie slipped off his tongue. Ajax rolled his eyes,

"Whatever dude; you deal with all this mushy crap and come find me when you grow some balls." He swaggered away, all arrogance and wide shoulders.

"What the hell is his problem?" I muttered. Iggy smirked down at me playfully,

"Oh he's just putting all that on - he's not that stuck up when you get to know him." Iggy smiled at Ella, asking with that familiar, cheeky grin,

"Well, at least now I know why your Mum doesn't let anyone come round your house," he nudged me, "I mean with this one on the loose..." I elbowed him in the ribs and Iggy laughed, letting me go and backing up a step.

Now that I got a good look at him, I saw he'd gone through the same transformation I had. He was wearing a very loose t-shirt under his jock-jacket, and proper nutrition had given him an extra foot in height. His hair had been cropped fashionably short, and his eyes - I just couldn't get over the fact he was actually looking at me.

"They work?" I asked, staring back and forth between the blue irises. Iggy grinned,

"Yeah. Would you believe it, that last op actually did the trick. I can probably see better then you now." I almost laughed, my inner flock leader yelling itself hoarse for more information. Still trying to play the whole thing casually I grinned at him,

"So where's Wren? How'd you guys make it?" Iggy's face dropped.

"Wren...didn't make it out...she said she had to distract them so I could get out. I think she was trying to do what you always used to, y'know, save the day...I haven't seen her since. She fought off the dogs by herself while I ran outside. I couldn't see anything but I tried to get in the air..." Iggy frowned down at me, "I heard dogs below me and thought she'd be on my heels so I got away. I passed out after a few minutes, but somehow I must've landed, cause the next thing I know, I'm lying in a bed, two people standing over me. The Griffiths are ex-Itex employees, they tried to stop what was happening to us but- well Itex told them to quit and keep everything quiet, or else they'd 'retire them'." Iggy smiled to himself sadly, "I still can't believe my luck. I don't know how I got there, but they're good people, they helped me try and find you." I swallowed sadly,

"I can't believe my luck either - I crashed into Ella's back yard. Her Mum fixed me up, and her Dad's working with me to take down Itex." I smiled sadly at him, still worried for Wren but thinking of all the kids on the CSM ship, "Iggy we've been saving kids, getting mutants out, giving them a home." Iggy stared at me and I smiled happily, "God there must be near 50 of them now, all holed up on a ship, safe, we even started a middle school onboard." Iggy gaped at me, eyes wide and voice low,

"Damn Max...once a superhero always a superhero."

"We're still looking," I said quickly, "for the school I mean. The CSM even found out the name of their biggest base. It's called the Institute for Higher Living. We haven't found them yet, but when we do, we can save the rest of the flock."

"I want to help." Iggy said shortly. I nodded, not sure what to say, the both of us looking over at Ella as she suggested,

"Why don't you come back and meet Mum and Dad tonight? We could sort things out and show you what we've got on Itex." Iggy grinned, walking over to her,

"That sounds perfect Ells." I smiled, watching as he sat down beside her, smiling between the both of us.

"Does someone want to fill me in...?" Nudge asked, for once a little lost for words as she looked between the three of us.

I grinned, sitting down next to her and beginning to build a castle of lies, one that might somehow explain everything.

Finding one of my flock felt like Christmas - or, at least, it felt like the kind of Winter excitement Ella said came with Christmas.

Through the rest of lunch I couldn't stop smiling. I mean on top of everything else, Iggy's body language while sat next to Ella made me fell all warm and fuzzy for him. True, its not even a concept for Itex experiment's that they could have a 'crush', but the way Iggy looked at Ella, it sure looked like there was an exception to the rule.

I mean, she'd said Iggy had turned her down a lot, but then she didn't know all the things you had to run away from with a pair of wings on your back. Maybe now she knew, now that he knew she'd be safe, it'd be different for them. Maybe school wasn't going to be all that bad.


Welcome, ladies and gents, to your chapterly dose of a slightly-useless-always-pointless fact :)

Non dairy creamer is flammable...don't try that at home kids

Thank you to anyone who reviews - you truly lovely person ^-^

Fly on,
M